There are many ideas for creating sustainable, green electricity. The green lifestyle requires new eco friendly sources of energy and there are many people working in this direction.
Here is one of these ideas, often labeled as strange and odd, but yet very creative and practical. The idea is based on the principle of the piezoelectricity.
The word piezoelectricity is a term, which means electricity resulting from pressure. The company of Solar Botanic has used exactly this meaning of the term, in order to create a sustainable power source.
Their project is about an artificial tree that generates electricity in three different ways. The leaves of this tree are made of solar cells and produce energy by the well known photovoltaic way. However the more interesting thing is that the leaves of this tree are attached to the twigs with piezo-generators.
So, this way, even the slightest whiff of the wind generates an additional quantity of electricity. Therefore, the company is planning to create wind farms based on this tree.
The electric power is light, low-cost and of course easily scaled. Everyone has seen the piezoelectric element commonly used in the lighters.
This element creates less electricity, which is the reason for the spark ignition in the lighters. The same principle is used by this tree and its artificial leaves made of solar cells. These cells are moved by the wind and this way they generate a certain amount of electricity.
The third method for generating electricity is the thermoelectricity. It is also a well known method, which the producers of the piezoelectric tree are using, in order to create sustainable energy.
The thermoelectricity method works in a simple way: if two metals are connected at both ends and one of these links is placed in a warm environment, while the other is cool, there appears a voltage.
The branches of the tree are constantly in hot environment, especially in the summer, while the roots are in the ground, where the temperature is low. Therefore, the tree is able to generate thermoelectricity, which is a sustainable and efficient energy.
Perhaps the idea for a tree that is able to generate energy sounds very strange to you and you wouldn’t spend time in a park made out of artificial trees, but the idea is actually very practical. The company is planning to create parks with artificial trees that are going to generate sustainable, green energy.
